If you are curious about how to make cake balls for the first time, then you are in the right place. We have some pics and step-by-step instructions that should work great if you are new to making cake balls!
I was today years old before I actually made cake balls. It was easy and fun. I used them to make these Snowman Cake Pops.
There are so many different flavors and varieties of cakeballs to try but eventually I had to just pick a flavor.
Andi still makes rum balls every year and they are a huge hit, but glazing and reglazing and letting them sit is part of the process, and I don’t have the patience for that.
Who wants to wait for their cakeballs to be ready to eat? Not me.
First, this is a fun recipe to make.
If you are looking for a Christmas Dessert to make with kids, then cake balls are a great idea.
It is a very hands-on recipe because you have to first bake the cake and then break the cake into small pieces.
To break it up, you need to use your hands, and this is a perfect kitchen chore for small children.
Hot Tip: Be sure to have some disposable gloves on hand. Be sure that they are powder-free and latex free.
If you are in a hurry, you could always buy a cake from the bakery and scrape off the icing.
In this case, I baked a simple, straightforward white cake and it smells so yummy.
The smell of cakes baking during the Christmas season is so lovely.
While making this, there is a Christmas playlist playing, and Ben Crosby is singing.

Supplies to gather
Tools:
- Large baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Equipment to bake cake: Oven, pan, hand mixer or spoon, bowl, nonstick spray
- Microwave-safe bowl for melting the chocolate
- Bowl scraper to get all the goods out of the bowl and pan
- Microwave to melt the chocolate easily and quickly
- Freezer to set up the balls before coating
- Powder-free plastic gloves
- Toothpicks or teaspoon for help coating each cake ball
Ingredients:
- Baked white cake (ingredients for cake: usually box mix, eggs, oil, and water)
- Can of cream cheese frosting
- Ghirardelli White Chocolate Melting Wafers or any white chocolate chips, or white “almond bark” vanilla coating
- Optional: Decorations like sprinkles or colored icing (or both!)

What kind of cake to use for cake balls
I used white cake in our cake balls, but that is only because we planned to turn these into cakeball snowman treats.
I used a Duncan Hines cake mix but that is only because that is what we had on hand.
The important note here is that you don’t have to make a homemade white cake.
A box cake mix can be your best friend when trying to save a bit of time and keep it easy.
You can use whatever kind of cake you want, box mix, grocery store bakery, or even leftover cupcakes.
Also, it can be fun to make a variety of cakes and mix and match them for a Holiday Party.
About the cream cheese frosting
I find that the cream cheese frosting is a skosh less sweet than the normal tub of vanilla, and it adds richness without being overwhelming.
We noticed that a lot of recipes out there call for a LOT of frosting, like a whole 1 lb tub of it, but I found that ½ CUP (not half a tub) did the job just fine.
This smaller amount allowed for the nice cakey consistency that rolled up well, without making them ridiculously sweet.
If you want to make it extra yummy, you could whip up some homemade frosting, but a can of Betty Crocker frosting works just fine.
Be as ambitious as you want here but we worked on this recipe to make easy cake balls, not spend-all-day-in-the-kitchen cake balls.

About the white chocolate
We used Ghirardelli because it’s a brand we like and trust for all kinds of our baking.
We’ve used it to make cocoa bombs (the melting wafers AND the sweet chocolate cocoa) and in general like the semisweet chocolate chips for cookies, too.
It wasn’t until I tasted Ghirardelli that I started to like white chocolate, to be honest.
If you’re already a fan of white chocolate, theirs will definitely be a better flavor, but you don’t have to use it to coat these cake balls. Any type or brand will do.
Note: Melt the chocolate either very slowly on low in a saucepan or in short bursts in the microwave so it doesn’t “seize” or harden irreparably. When chocolate overheats, it burns. I have not found a tasteful way to recover seized chocolate, so if you just heat, stop, stir; heat, stop, stir in 15-second intervals, you’ll get a smooth, creamy chocolate without getting it too hot.
Steps for how to make cake balls
Instructions:
- Bake the cake according to the instructions on the box.
- Allow the cake to completely cool to room temperature.
- While the cake is cooling, cover a large baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
- Thoroughly wash hands or put on the kitchen gloves.
- In a large bowl, crumble the baked cake with your hands.
- Add in the frosting and mix the cake and frosting with your gloved hands to fully combine.
- Roll the cake mixture into 1″ balls and place them on the wax paper lined baking sheet.
- Once all of the balls have been created, place the baking sheet with cakeballs in the freezer for 1 hour.
- At the 55-minute mark, add white chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds, stir thoroughly, and repeat until smooth and creamy.
- Remove the cake balls from the freezer.
- Working quickly, drop each cake ball into the melted chocolate. Using a spoon, turn each cake ball until fully coated. Remove with the spoon or use a couple of toothpicks for the smoothest finished coating. Coat the cake balls fully in the white chocolate and then place them back on the wax paper. Note: The cold cakeballs may cause the white chocolate to cool and stiffen. If the cakeballs are no longer coating smoothly, reheat the bowl of white chocolate at 15-second intervals and stir until creamy and smooth again.
- Allow the chocolate coating to set and then serve at room temperature.
- Note: Finished cakeballs are best kept at room temperature. Too cold and the candy will crack, too warm and it will “sweat” or even melt.

Tips for how to make cake balls
You can decorate cake balls in so many different ways.
I am still squeeing at these adorable cake ball ice cream cones from Love Bakes Good Cakes so I guess we are making some for Christmas brunch this year.
But I digress.
Here are a couple of easy ways to decorate cake balls:
- Add ⅓ c of white icing (or melted white chocolate) to a microwave-safe dish and use food coloring to make it any color you want. Dip a fork or toothpick into the icing/chocolate and drizzle in a back-and-forth motion about six inches above the cakeballs.
- Sprinkles make everything more fun! From colored sugar, sixlets, jimmies, nonpareils, edible glitter, and seasonal sprinkles, they are an easy way to add fun color and match the rest of your decorations for a baby shower, birthday party or holiday. Just remember to add them BEFORE the white chocolate coating sets and dries. Try these yummy decorations like:

The bottom line
We had a lot of fun making these to create our Snowman Cake Pops recipe.
By themselves, they are cute and delicious, not too sweet, and easy to share the kitchen duties with kids tall and small.
Let us know if you learned how to make cake balls today and how it went!
We also put together this list of more cake pop recipes that are cake balls transformed.
While you’re here, check out these ideas for using leftover cake!

How To Make Cake Balls
Want to know how to make cake balls for the first time? Here’s our easy method for white cake balls in tasty white chocolate coating.
Ingredients
- 1 baked white cake
- 1/2 c cream cheese frosting (not half a tub)
- 20 oz Ghirardelli melting chocolate (or any white chocolate chips, or white “almond bark” vanilla coating)
- Optional: Decorations, like colored icing or sprinkles
Instructions
- Bake the cake according to the instructions on the box.
- Allow the cake to completely cool to room temperature.
- While the cake is cooling, cover a large baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
- Thoroughly wash hands or put on kitchen gloves.
- In a large bowl, crumble the baked cake with your hands.
- Add in the frosting and mix the cake and frosting with your gloved hands to fully combine.
- Roll the cake mixture into 1" balls and place them on the wax paper lined baking sheet.
- Once all of the balls have been created, place the baking sheet with cakeballs in the freezer for 1 hour.
- At the 55-minute mark, add white chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds, stir thoroughly, and repeat until smooth and creamy.
- Remove the cake balls from the freezer.
- Working quickly, drop each cake ball into the melted chocolate. Using a spoon, turn each cake ball until fully coated. Remove with the spoon or use a couple of toothpicks for the smoothest finished coating. Coat the cake balls fully in the white chocolate and then place them back on the wax paper. Note: The cold cakeballs may cause the white chocolate to cool and stiffen. If the cakeballs are no longer coating smoothly, reheat the bowl of white chocolate at 15-second intervals and stir until creamy and smooth again.
- Allow the chocolate coating to set and then serve at room temperature.
- Note: Finished cakeballs are best kept at room temperature. Too cold and the candy will crack, too warm and it will “sweat” or even melt.
Notes
Tools:
- Large baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Equipment to bake cake: Oven, pan, hand mixer or spoon, bowl, nonstick spray
- Microwave-safe bowl
- Bowl scraper
- Microwave
- Freezer
- Powder-free plastic gloves
- Toothpicks or teaspoon for help coating each cake ball